NOVATEUR PUBLICATIONS

International Journal of Research Publications in Engineering and Technology [IJRPET]

ISSN: 2454-7875
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 5,May -2017
A REVIEW ON - SOLAR CONCENTRATORS, PERFORMANCE OF SOLAR
COLLECTORS & ENERGY STORAGE
KAUSTUBH C, KULKARNI
U.G. Research scholar in Mechanical Engineering, ZES’s Zeal college of Engineering & Research, Narhe -Pune, India,
kaustubhkulkarni95@yahoo.com

AMEY C. NAIK
U.G. Research scholar in Mechanical Engineering, ZES’s Zeal college of Engineering & Research, Narhe -Pune, India.

SURYAKANT D. YADAV
U.G. Research scholar in Mechanical Engineering, ZES’s Zeal college of Engineering & Research, Narhe -Pune, India.

PRAVIN K. PHANSE
U.G. Research scholar in Mechanical Engineering, ZES’s Zeal college of Engineering & Research, Narhe -Pune, India.

SACHIN S. BORADE
Assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering Department, ZES’s Zeal college of Engineering & Research, Narhe -Pune,
Savitribai Phule Pune University, sachinborade09@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: India is blessed with abundant solar radiation

Parabolic trough concentrators are one
type of concentrators which reflects the sunlight on
the receiver (Line type) and gives us wet steam for
water. It can be tried with any type of fluid. Presently
solar collectors are used for residential and
commercial use. These solar collectors require high
maintenance and high installation cost, solar
concentrators help us in these disadvantages. This
review paper concentrates on solar concentrators
and various fluids that can be used in receiver. It also
focuses on surface shape measurement of solar
concentrator in solar thermal power application. In
order to capture maximum amount of solar energy it
is required to orient the concentrator as per the
position of the sun i.e. tracking is required .However
some of the concentrators do not track and are
referred as fixed concentrators. The objective of the
project is to track the receiver instead of solar
concentrator.
INTRODUCTION:
Increasing energy demands, shortage of fossil
fuels, and the continuous increase in the level of green
house gas emissions are the main driving forces to utilize
various sources of renewable energy. Solar energy is
environmentally clean, free and inexhaustible source of
energy. The power from the sun reaching the earth is
many thousands time larger than present consumption
rate of all commercial energy sources. This makes it one
of energy sources. This makes it one of the most
promising renewable energy sources.
67 | P a g e
available almost throughout the year and over
throughout its domain. One of the areas where solar
energy is extensively used at presently is water heating.
Solar water heaters are getting popularity, since they are
relatively in expensive and simple to fabricate and
maintain. They are viable supplement or alternative to
electric or gas geysers. A solar water heater of 100 liters
per day capacity can prevent over 30 tons of carbon
dioxide emissions during 20 years of its life span.
The energy from the sun is virtually free, except
the initial cost of the system The use of solar energy not
only bridges the gap between the demand and supply of
electricity but also reduces the use of conventional
energy, reduces the use of conventional energy, usually
results in a decrease in GHG emissions compared to the
present rate of consumption. Use of solar energy in India
is merely 0.5% compared to other energy resources.
Flat plate collectors are used for low
temperature applications. Many industrial applications
require temp. more than 100 degree Celsius, which is
obtained by using concentrators line focus systems have
cylindrical symmetry and are generally used when
medium conc. Ratio is sufficient to provide the desired
operating temp. Obtainable reaches to 500 degree
Celsius.
A parabolic trough is a type of concentrating
solar thermal technology, concentrating solar power
(CSP) uses a reflector to focus direct normal solar
radiation onto a receiver. The conventional solar trough
tracks the sun during the day by rotating about a single
axis. Typical collectors track sun from east to west by
rotating about a north-south axis.

International Journal of Research Publications in Engineering and Technology [IJRPET]
LITERATURE REVIEW:
The authors Iuliana sorgia & viorel badescu [1]
states that ‘The instantaneous performance of solar
collectors depends on the thermal inertia of their
components. The objective of their paper is to estimate
how much dependent are the thermal inertia effects on
the weathers characteristics. A mathematical model was
been developed to describe the dynamic behavior of a
flat plate water heating collector. The model was
validated for a common collector geometry both in
steady conditions, against data provided by
manufacturer..The effect of thermal inertia and has been
estimated in days characterized by different radiative
regimes’. The authors H.Benoit, L.S.preafico ,D.Gauthier
& G.Flamient[2] mention that’ Thermodynamic cycle
efficiency in the range 35-42% may be achieved with
current liquid and two phase heat transfer fluids used in
solar thermal power plants. Cycle efficiency of 50% and
more are attainable with new HTF are stable at 700
degree Celsius in order to predict these fluids heat
transfer coefficients ,Nusselt correlations can be applied.
The coupling between heat transfer fluid characteristics
liquid metal are efficient heat transfer that could lead to
further development. It’s also deals with recent
development on HTF’. The authors Sh.Ghadarijifarbeigo,
A.H.zamzamia, & M.yaghoub[3] stated that ‘new
perforated louvered twisted tape on the heat transfer
coefficient and friction factor for an absorber tube of
solar parabolic trough collector is determined
numerically. High Nusselt number and friction factor are
observed for lTT with respect to plain tube. ‘With
decreasing the value of the Reynolds number and twist
ratio’. The authors Gianculuca Searle, Sara baronetto,
Francesco goia,& Marco perino[4] states that ‘The results
of the numerical characterization and performance
analysis of the slurry phase change materials based solar
thermal collectors demonstrates that this system
presents promising energy efficiency Improvements at
least from the theoretical point of view. On average the
instantaneous efficiency can increase up to 0.08 if
compared to conventional, water based technology. It
shows that temp. of slurry PCM heat carrier fluid is
always lower than that of the water solution one. The
authors-R.Silva M.pefez M.Berenguel L.Vannzuela &
E.Zarza[5]States that ‘ The results show that although
several low-level modeling factors of parabolic trough
DSG solar plants carry relatively large magnitudes of
uncertainty, most of them show a negligible influence on
integrated higher level output design indicators after
being propagated through model. Therefore a key
finding in this work is that the selection of a particular
design indicator has a very significant influence on the
relative importance distribution of the sources of
68 | P a g e
NOVATEUR PUBLICATIONS
ISSN: 2454-7875
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 5,May -2017
uncertainty in the design stage, leading to different
combinations of complexity, completeness and
robustness’. The author jun xiao Xiudong wei zhenwu lu
Weixing yu & Hongsheng Wu[6] States that ‘Three types
for surface measurement methods of solar concentrators
are discussed. The video scanning Hartman optical test is
a procedure directly measure surface slopes and it is
suitable to characterizes the optics of dishes and
parabolic trough where it is sufficiently accurate .
Photogrammetric is a method based on photographic
process and widely used for the 3-D dimensional
measurements of objects. It allows the measurements of
objects. It allows the independent measurement the
deflectometry is suitable for measuring large surfaces
with high resolution particularly for measuring
heliostats of a central tower system with a typical focal
length of 100 or larger. Solar collector and thermal
energy storage system are the two components.
Different metal firms affect heat transfer in PCM’. The
author Ojajunmao[7] states that ‘Main geometrical
configurations of IES system in CSP plants are cylinder
and rectangle . Rectangular storage tank is popular for
sensible heat storage in large scale system and cylinder
storage tank is more extensive for latent heat storage in
labscale system. Packed-bed encapsulated PCMs is future
trend in TES system’. The author Ming liu N.H.steven tay
stuart bell Martin belusko Rhys Jacob &Geoffrey
will[8]States that ‘The paper overviews the technical
development in high temperature TES over the last
decade to achieve cost effective TES for CSP Recent
developments in latent TES aim to maximize the
extraction rate of the stored heat from storage systems
by reducing the thermal resistance between the PCM and
the HTF through encapsulation ,utilizing heat pipes and
making PCMs mobile. High temperature corrosion of the
containment material is a severe problem experienced
by all types of TES. The cost of the thermal storage is a
function of both the storage and containment materials
and the configuration associated with storage system.
The author Gianpero colangeb,Ernani favale,Paola
mighietta,Arturo de risi [9] stated that ‘This paper has
been focused on the recent development in the field of
flat plate solar thermal collectors. These type of solar
collectors are the most widely used in the world because
of low cost and easy maintenance. In this paper different
schemes of operation during summer day summer night
winter day and winter night.Nanofluids can be employed
in flat solar panels in order to increase efficiency of
systems. Innovative materials, innovative heat transfer
fluids in solar thermal collectors’.The authors Ricardo
Vasquez dadilla,Gokmen demirkaya,D,yogi Goswami,Eias
stefamaskos, Muhammad N.Rahman[10] states that ‘A
comprehensive heat transfer model for thermal analysis

International Journal of Research Publications in Engineering and Technology [IJRPET]
of parabolic trough solar receivers was developed. The
heat collection element consists of an absorber
surrounded by a glass envelope. In this paper a detailed
one dimensional heat transfer analysis of a PTC is
presented. The receiver and envelope were divided into
several segments and mass and energy balance were
carried out in each control volume’.The author Fatigun
A.T,Fauneya E.B,Aduloju K.A,Falaiye O.A.[11] states that
‘The line focus solar thermal collector was constructed
using flexible plywood, wooden planks, silver coated
acrylic mirror ,copper tube and glue. Experimental
investigation was carried out on a three segment line
focus concentrating collector in stationary mode. Study
show that the effect of structural geometry is significant
on the performance efficiency of a line focus collector
.The useful gain rate of the system was estimated to be
9.6 kw while the heat loss coefficient was
4.637w/mk.The author G.O.G lof, D.A Feser
,J.A.Duffie[12] states that ‘The shape factor is defined as
the fraction of radiation specularly reflected from
reflector which is intercepted by the receiver. The most
probable reasons for the receiver size are mis
positioning of the receiver and misalignment of the
reflector.If a small receiver is centered a slight distance
from the theoretical focus, the actual shape factor would
differ from the measured shape factor used in calculating
energy balances. The reflector focal length was one foot
,the rim angle was 114 degrees and the FIA was
0101.Incident solar radiations were measured with an
eppley pyrheliometer mounted with sensing element
parallel to aperture of reflector’. The author Devander
Kumar Lamba[13] stated about parabolic trough
collectors that, Parabolic trough technology is the most
mature concentrated solar power design. PTCs
effectively produce heat at temperatures ranging From
50 to 4000 C. These temperatures are generally high
enough for most industrial heating processes and
applications, the great majority of which run below3000
C. There is a series of curved mirrors in each parabolic
trough which are used to concentrate sunlight on to
thermally efficient receiver tubes placed in the trough’s
focal line through which synthetic oil, heated to
approximately 400 ◦C by the concentrated sun’s rays, is
used as a heat transfer medium. As reviewed in the
paper the key sectors are food and beverages including
wine, textile, transport equipment, metal and plastic
treatment,and chemicals. And the most suitable
processes are cleaning, drying, evaporation and
distillation, blanching, pasteurisation, sterilisation,
cooking, melting, painting, and surface treatment,it can
also be used in refrigeration and air conditioning. India
have taken up the opportunity to harvest the solar
resource. Projects based on PTC have the potential for
69 | P a g e
NOVATEUR PUBLICATIONS
ISSN: 2454-7875
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 5,May -2017
power generation sources in the near future. World
governments are actively announcing incentives for
development of solar thermal power plants and
establishing policy frameworks. The launch of The
JNNSM by MNRE, Government of India is the first step in
the promotion and establishment of solar energy as a
viable alternative to conventional sources.The author
Neha Jain[14] studied that, The concentrated solar
power technology (CSPT) is being looked upon as
solution of increasing energy requirement of the world
of today. Parabolic-trough collectors can also drive
absorption cooling systems or other equipment that runs
off a thermal load. A dark surface is positioned to absorb
sunlight and convert it to heat. Water or another heat
transfer fluid passes along that hot surface to pick up the
heat—either for direct use or for transfer through a heat
exchanger to the end use. From the standpoints of
technological feasibility, compatibility with existing
facilities, conventional energy use reduction, and
pollution and climate-change-gas emission reduction,
the outlook is quite good. The technology is more limited
geographically to areas of high solar resource and to
larger facilities than technologies, but the economics are
better. This is largely the reason for the fact that 97% of
the total energy generated in the world through CSPT
utilizes parabolic trough solar power.In India, Cargo
Solar Power project in Kutch (Gujarat) and Corporate
Ispat Alloys Limited project in Nokh (Rajasthan) are
targeted to be finished by 2013, both being parabolic
trough type plants. Parabolic-trough collectors can also
drive absorption cooling systems or other equipment
that runs off a thermal load. A dark surface is positioned
to absorb sunlight and convert it to heat. Water or
another heat transfer fluid passes along that hot surface
to pick up the heat—either for direct use or for transfer
through a heat exchanger to the end use. From the
standpoints of technological feasibility, compatibility
with existing facilities, conventional energy use
reduction, and pollution and climate-change-gas
emission reduction, the outlook is quite good. The
technology is more limited geographically to areas of
high solarresource and to larger facilities than
technologies, but the economics are better.This is largely
the reason for the fact that 97% of the total energy
generated in the world throughCSPT utilizes parabolic
trough solar power.In India, Cargo Solar Power project
in Kutch (Gujarat) and Corporate Ispat Alloys Limited
project in Nokh (Rajasthan) are targeted to be finished
by 2013, both being parabolic trough type plants. The
parabolic trough collectors are generally limited to 150-
200 MW of electrical power generation, the associated
pumping losses being the major driving factor for that.
They use 12- 13% of energy in the smaller plants and the

International Journal of Research Publications in Engineering and Technology [IJRPET]
efficiency can be scaled higher in larger plants,however,
the land requirement for the same also increases
proportionally.7 The thermal losses during the transfer
of synthetic oil in the pipes mesh also affects the
efficiency of the system, a problem combated in power
towers. The greatest and the most visible advantage of a
solar power tower design above the parabolic trough
design is attainment of higher temperature. Author Falah
Abd Alhasan Mutlak [15],in this paper he carried out a
experiment in which he formed a system in which it
includes, construction of a matrix of mirrors to form the
parabolic reflector (1.8 2.8 m). They are aligned by a
laser beam. Solar tracker has been constructed (using
two-axis) to track PTSC according to the direction of
solar radiation. Synthetic oil is used as a heat transfer
medium because of its capability to have load of high
temperature (400 oC). The storage tank has been
fabricated of stainless steel of size 50 litre.He also gave
load two loads to it, the first load is designed as a solar
cooker and the second one for space heating. In order to
track the sun throughout the day for every day of the
year, there are geometric relationships for the position
of the collector with respect to the time that is needed to
be known. The earth revolves around the sun every
365.25 day in an elliptical orbital called eclliptic plane,
and it completes a full rotation about its axis every 24
hours. The earth – sun distance is smallest on December
21 (perihelion, 1.47 1011 m) and highest on June 21
(aphelion, 1.52  1011 m) . The axis of rotation of the
earth is tilted at an angle of 23.45° with respect to its
orbital plane, as shown in figure. This tilt remains fixed
and is the cause for the seasons throughout the year. A
parabolic trough solar collector with automatic two-axis
solar tracking system was constructed, operated and
tested to overcome the need for frequent manual
tracking. This procedure causes an increase in the out
put power of the PTSC by making the solar angle of
incidence between the beam of the solar radiation and
the normal on the surface of the trough equal to zero
(the geometrical losses becomes zero). Results indicate a
beneficial effect when the receiver is painted black.
Moreover, using glass cover protective apparently
proved benefit to the overall performance. Authors
namrly Matthias Günther, Michael Joemann , Simon
Csambor [16] and reviewers Amenallah Guizani Dirk
Krüger Tobisas Hirsch reviewed and studied the
parabolic trough technology. The energy flow in a
parabolic trough power plant has the following
structure: Direct solar radiation is concentrated and
converted into thermal energy. The thermal energy is
converted into pressure energy of vapour, which is
converted into kinetic energy. The kinetic energy is
finally transformed into electrical energy, the final
70 | P a g e
NOVATEUR PUBLICATIONS
ISSN: 2454-7875
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 5,May -2017
product of the power plant. The collector, the parabolic
trough, is a trough the cross-section of which has the
shape of a part of a parabola. More exactly, it is a
symmetrical section of a parabola around its vertex. The
main requirements for appropriate mirror materials are
their reflective properties. The reflectivity must be high.
The reflectivity of a surface is a number that indicates
the fraction of the incident radiation that is reflected by
the surface. In general, the reflectivity is different for
different wavelengths so that it has to be specified for a
given wavelength or a given wavelength range, for
instance for the visible light range. In the case of solar
applications, the solar spectrum is of interest. Generally,
a “solar weighted reflectivity” is indicated that takes into
consideration that there are different energy contents at
different wavelengths in the solar spectrum. The solar
weighted reflectivity indicates, hence, the fraction of
solar energy that is reflected on a mirror. The bearing
structure of a parabolic trough has the function to carry
the mirrors in the right position, to give stability to the
troughs and to allow an exact Sun tracking.
Theoretically, the parabolic troughs in the solar field of a
CSP plant can have any horizontal orientation. Sun
tracking is always possible. However, there is a
preferred orientation, which is the north-south
alignment with the respective east-west tracking. East-
west alignment with the respective north-south tracking
was applied only for experimental purposes. The reasons
for the preference of the north-south alignment will be
explained in the section “Solar field”. Receivers for
parabolic trough power plants have the task to convert
the radiation that is projected onto them into heat and to
transport the heat to the pipes, which leads it further to
the power block. Important are high radiation
absorption and low heat losses. A constructive challenge
is the heat expansion of the receiver due to the changing
temperatures between operation and non-operating
state. It has also to be taken into account that the
receivers in a parabolic trough power plant are
moveable parts which require flexible pipe connections.
The receiver has to fulfil several geometrical and
physical requirements. The reflected radiation has to hit
the absorber surface, which implies geometric
constraints. The radiation has to be converted as
completely as possible into heat and the optical and
thermal losses at the surfaces of the receiver
components should be as small as possible. Special
coatings and thermal insulation measures are applied to
achieve this. The authors, Charles Wyman, James castle &
Frank Kreith [17] stated that collector technology is
available temperature up to 350 degree F .the
technology and thermal performance of intermediate
temperature solar collector is summarized and status of

International Journal of Research Publications in Engineering and Technology [IJRPET]
thermal and thermo technology storage method revived
.current collector technology can provide linear
concentrating collector for capable of heating a working
fluid to 300 degree centigrade at peak efficiency up to
60%.heliostat with central receiver can be used for
higher intermediate temperature. Thermal energy can be
stored in internal energy of a material as S.H and L.H
heat of reaction or combination. Solar radiation is
intermitted fissile fuel backup for energy storage must
meet energy need at night during cloud cover. The
optimum energy storage duration is usually that which
provide minimum final delivered energy cost.
CONCLUSION:
Considering the low carbon emission there will
be huge demand for solar systems in the future, as
current non-conventional sources of energy are
satisfying only 6.9% of the total potential of the
renewable sources in India. A current study shows that
maximum 60% efficiencies can be achieved with current
collector technology.
The evacuated receiver is preferable to get
temperature in the range of 130-140OC, its cylindrical
shape leads to receive reflected and deflected radiations
from the focus [15]
REFERENCES:
1) luliana sorgia,viorel badescu “Thermal inertia of flat
plate solar collectors in different radiative regimes”
2) H.Benoit, L.S.preafico,D.Gauthier,G.Flamient “Review
of heat transfer fluids in tube receivers used in
concentrating solar thermal systems: properties and
heat transfer coefficient”.
3) Sh.Ghadarijifarbeigo,A.H.zamzami-,M.yaghoubi”3-D
numerical simulation of heat transfer and turbulent
flow in a receiver tube of solar parabolic trough
concentrator with louvered twisted tape inserts”.
4) Gianculuca serale,Sara baronetto,Franceso
goia,Marco perino “Characterization and energy
performance of a slurry PCM based solar thermal
collector a numerical analysis”
5) R.Silva,M.pefez, M.Berenguel ,L.Vannzuela,E.Zarza
“Uncertainty and global sensitivity analysis in the
design of parabolic trough direct steam generation
plants for process heat generation plants for process
heat applications”
6) jun xiao,Xiudong wei,zhenwu lu,Weixing
yu,Hongsheng Wu “A review of available methods for
surface shape measurement of solar concentrator in
solar thermal power applications”
7) Ojajunmao “ Recent developments in geometrical
configurations of thermal energy storage for
concentrating solar power plant”
71 | P a g e
NOVATEUR PUBLICATIONS
ISSN: 2454-7875
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 5,May -2017
8) Ming liu,N.H.steven tay,stuart bell,Martin
belusko,Rhys Jacob,Geoffrey will “ Review on
concentrating solar power plants and new
developments in high temperature thermal energy
solar technologies”
9) Gianpero colangeb,Ernani favale,Paola
mighietta,Arturo de risi “Innovation in flat solar
thermal collectors-A review of the last ten years
experimental results”
10) Ricardo Vasquez dadilla,Gokmen demirkaya,D,yogi
Goswami,Eias stefamaskos,Muhammad N.Rahman “
Heat transfer analysis of parabolic trough solar
receiver”
11) Fatigun A.T,Fauneya E.B,Aduloju K.A,Falaiye O.A.
“Experimental investigation of effect of geometric
curvature on the performance of a line focus
concentrating collectors”
12) G.O.G lof,D.A Feser,J.A.Duffie “Energy balances on a
parabolic cylinder solar collector”
13) Devander Kumar Lamba “A review on parabolic type
solar collectors innovation, applications and thermal
energy storage”
14) Jain Neha “Comparative Study of Parabolic Trough
Collector and Solar Power Tower Technology”
15) Falah Abd Alhasan Mutlak “Design and Fabrication of
Parabolic Trough Solar Collector for Thermal Energy
Applications”
16) Matthias Günther,Michael Joemann,Simon
Csambor“Parabolic Trough Technology”
17) Charles Wyman, James castle, Frank Kreith “Review
of collector and energy storage technology for
intermediate temperatiure application”